Colton~~
Seong-ho pops his head into my office. "Can I speak with you?"
From my desk I beckon him forward.
"I wanted to apologize for interrupting your fight. I could see how much you wanted it." "No need. You made things take a much more interesting twist. She said she's not a rebel, but do you think that's true?"
He sinks into the seat across from me. "I don't know. Honestly, I don't. She never seemed interested in giving her limited time to the rebellions."
"Limited time?" I start pulling up the database of Expiration Dates on my computer. As I'm now Beta, I have access to it and have already checked Iris's. "You said you were surprised to see her alive, but in our records, she's supposed to die in 2064."
He blinks, and I rotate the monitor for him to see.
"That's not right. Iris is supposed to die at nineteen."
"Are you sure?"
"Without a doubt. It was kind of a major thing in the orphanage that she was going to die young."
"Did you ever see her Date?"
He stares at the screen. "Yes. She never covered it with a bandage. I don't remember what it was, but seeing the date and month here, they seem familiar. But for this year, that date would have passed. So, unless she's about to die any day now . . . that would be impossible."
It would be ludicrous. If she's Expired, she would be dead. There's no living afterward. "And you're sure that she's supposed to die at nineteen?"
"I already told you yes."
I turn the screen back to me, rereading the Expiration Date. "Gwen, Bently, and I all got a headache when we met her. The same kind. Gwen and I don't trust her. "I think . . ." Jonas is going to be furious. "It's time we found out what lies under that bandage."